Blacktail shiner
(Cyprinella venusta)
General data
The blacktail shiner is a somewhat slender minnow with 8-9 rays on the anal fin, and a prominent black spot at the base of the caudal fin (tail fin). The back is usually yellowish-olive, and the sides are silvery with hints of blue.
Adults usually reach 8 inches (19 cm) in length.
The blacktail shiner has a large, black caudal spot which distinguishes it from most other minnows. The caudal spot of the blacktail shiner may be faint, especially in populations inhabiting turbid waters, and they could likely be confused with the red shiner (C. lutrensis); however, the red shiner has 9 anal rays (versus 8) and usually 35 or fewer lateral scales (versus 36 or more).
The blacktail shiner occurs in Gulf of Mexico drainages from Suwannee River, Georgia and Florida, to Rio Grande, Texas; Mississippi River basin (mostly on Former Mississippi Embayment) from southern Illinois to Louisiana and west in Red River drainage to western Oklahoma.[3]
Blacktail shiners are found in the southern United States west of the Appalachian Mountains.[4] The species ranges east and west from north central Florida to West Texas, and north to southern Illinois. In Texas, blacktail shiners are unknown in the Panhandle, being found primarily from the Edwards Plateau eastward.
The blacktail shiner has also been found from the Rio Grande basin in Texas, east to the Suwannee River, and north through the Mississippi River basin to the confluence of the Ohio River.
Two of the three recognized subspecies occur in Alabama.
The slender blacktail shiner, C. v. stigmaturus, is found in the upper Mobile River basin (most frequently above the Fall Line), while the eastern blacktail shiner, C. v. cercositgma, occurs in the lower Mobile River basin and coastal rivers draining the state. Intergradations between these subspecies have been recognized in the Alabama, Cahaba, and Tallapoosa river systems.
